Hello Moto. The Lenovo-owned smartphone brand is taking us down the memory lane with the launch of its new smartphone. Moto Razr 2019 was officially launched in Los Angeles on Thursday, bringing back some fond memories associated with the original Razr, the iconic flip phone from 15 years ago.
Moto Razr is the perfect reboot to the current rising trend of foldable smartphones. The flip phone is now converted into a foldable smartphone with the help of a flexible display. Motorola has stayed true to its roots by keeping the original Razr design in check and it is clearly one of the most exciting launches in the foldable category.
Not many brands have stepped into the foldable smartphone space. Motorola joins big players, Samsung and Huawei, competing in the niche field. But the all-new Razr stands out with its vertical fold design to mirror the clamshell design in the original classic phone. We are used to seeing the horizontal folding mechanism and the Razr 2019 is a refreshing change.
Moto Razr 2019 has dual displays, a 6.2-inch OLED HD+ panel with 21:9 aspect ratio when unfolded and a 2.7-inch (600x800 pixels) LCD display when folded. Motorola takes pride in making its Razr's display fully stretched to give a flat panel without showing a fold in between. This comes from Motorola's experience with handling OLED panels for over 8 years. The second screen, which is a Quick View display, can be used for some quick actions like taking selfies, view notifications, control music playback and more.
"The razr uses advanced flexible OLED screen technology and a groundbreaking hinge mechanism that allows the phone to close with both sides perfectly flush. This engineering breakthrough protects the display and creates an even thinner, more compact design," Motorola said in a statement.
Moto Razr's attention to detail is striking. Keeping in line with the original form factor, the new Razr retains the round bottom chin, which now has a fingerprint scanner. The bottom area also houses a USB Type-C port and a speaker grille.
Moto Razr 2019 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset, which is a shift from other brands using flagship processors as foldable phones are considered premium. Motorola's justification is the chipset would contribute for better battery life, a must considering the onboard battery is only 2,510mAh. But charging won't ever be an issue as it supports 15W TurboPower charging support.
Other features include 6GB RAM, 128GB storage, Android 9 Pie OS, and splash-proof with water-resistant nanocoating. The foldable smartphone has a 16MP f/1.7 primary camera, which doubles as a selfie shooter in the folded state. There's a 5MP camera inside the Razr if you wish to capture selfies on the big screen.
Moto Razr camera comes equipped with creative modes such as Spot Color, Night Vision, Cinemagraph and Portrait. There are AI recommendations for camera modes depending on the scene you're shooting and smart composition feature gives a professional touch to your photos.
Surprisingly, there are no SIM card slots in the phone. Users would have to get an eSIM for the Razr. This just shows how constraint the engineering of the phone is.
With all these features, the Moto Razr is priced at $1,499 (approx. Rs 1,07,400). It will go on sale in the US exclusively on Verizon's network starting January 9, 2020. There's no word on when the new Razr would arrive in India, but there's a registration page for interested folks to get notified when there's an update.
